The surface of photovoltaic solar panels must be clean in order to ensure full operation and maximum efficiency. Any kind of dirt that may be on the surface of the solar module, be it dust, pollen, tree sap, bird droppings, sand, salt crystals, etc., will reduce the footprint of the sun's rays, i.e. reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the solar module cells, and thus the panel will produce less power.

To the naked eye the panels may appear clean, however there will be dirt accumulated, even if it is just the air pollution itself. A simple test to see if your panel is in need of cleaning is to wipe the surface of the panel with a white cloth or cotton pad before the actual cleaning.

According to recent studies, when a solar panel is very dirty it can lose up to 50% of its efficiency compared to a clean solar panel. However, an energy loss of 10 to 15% can be observed in panels with some dirt.

In fact, rain, snow, or wind alone does not wash the solar panels, because wind carries particles, snow because it blocks sunlight, and rainwater because it is slightly acidic and, when it dries, leaves spots that quickly attract dirt again, thus making the solar system less efficient.

A simple way to illustrate why the weather alone does not wash out the solar panels is to look at the windshield of your car. If you leave your windshield dirty for a long time, you will lose visibility due to accumulated dirt, but thanks to the cleaner that you apply and the windshield wiper, you can wash the glass and regain visibility in no time!

In this way, the solar panels are like the windshields of your car, except that they do not have readily available liquid for washing the solar panels associated with the windshield wiper.

DSA is designed to be applied with a Cleaning Drone.